For some, it is a sign that the conservatives are preparing to move into opposition; for others, it represents the right's attempt to reclaim satire from the cosy clasp of the liberal elite. This weekend, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel, home of all that is "fair and balanced", launches the Half Hour News Hour.

As the title suggests, the programme is not entirely serious. Nor is it entirely fair and balanced. Indeed, it is intended to wrench the iron fist of satire away from the liberals on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and give the right all the best lines.

The programme is the brainchild of Joel Surnow, the man behind the hit Fox series 24. That programme, not known for its humour, has been criticised for scaremongering in its depiction of a Middle Eastern terrorist cell active in the US.

Two clips Fox has released in advance of Sunday night's premiere, however, suggest The Half Hour News Hour may not be enough to scare the Daily Show.

In one clip, two fake newscasters are shown discussing Barack Obama. The scene shifts to a mildly amusing item on a magazine called BO, dedicated to all things Obama.

The second clip features a pretend president addressing the nation with the vice-president at his side. But these are no ordinary actors playing politicians. The president is played by conservative darling Rush Limbaugh, who demonstrates a hitherto unacknowledged aptitude for the dramatic arts. Limbaugh's best gag comes when he refuses to take a call from Nancy Pelosi. "How did she get this number?" he asks.

The vice-president is another rightwing heartthrob, Ann Coulter. While her acting abilities may not be up to those of her co-star, Coulter does get the best line in the sketch. As President Limbaugh tells viewers to stay tuned for The Half Hour News Hour, Coulter leans in to warn, "And if you don't, we'll invade your country, kill your leaders and convert you to Christianity." Dick Cheney couldn't have put it better.

The attempts at humour aren't helped by an intrusive laughter track and the presence of a real news ticker at the bottom of the screen. Fox News is, after all, a news channel.

Surnow explained the thinking behind the show to the magazine TV Guide this week. "One of the things that's definitely not out there is a satirical voice that skews to the right as opposed to the left," he said. "You can turn on any comedy satire show on TV and you're going to hear 10 Bush jokes, 10 Cheney jokes. But you'll never hear a Hillary Clinton joke or a global warming send-up. It's just not out there.

"Let's face it, people are funny on both sides of the aisle. I really felt that something was missing."

Admitting that "the show does come from somewhat of a partisan place", Surnow added that he intends to play clean. "It's not a mean-spirited show," he said. "I think the one thing we target more than anything else is hysteria: the hysteria over global warming, the hysteria over Barack Obama, ccollege kids' hysteria over Che Guevera T-shirts. This is funny. This is irrational behaviour that has lodged itself in our culture, and no one stops to go, 'Wait a minute: this is kind of absurd.'"

Regardless of the merits of the gags in the Half Hour News Hour, its appearance may represent something of a cultural shift. After six years, and with two years of a lame-duck presidency ahead, viewers may be tiring of jokes about the Bush administration.

And satire's perceived liberal bias has already spawned such internet hits as Redneck TV, in which two good ol' boys sit around denigrating liberals. The creators of that website were recently signed up by a major Hollywood talent agency.